273Japanese proverb ことわざ
世間は広いようで狭い
せけんはひろいようでせまいSeken wa hiroi yō de semai
“The world seems wide, and it is small.”
The meaning
Paths always cross again: today's stranger knows your neighbor, yesterday's offended sits across from you tomorrow. All the more reason to behave everywhere as at home.
At the origin
A proverb of experience about overlapping bonds.
The characters
- 世間 sekenthe world
- は watopic marker
- 広い
- ようで
- 狭い
はParticleMarks the topic: what the sentence is about — “as for…”.
In practice
Treat every stranger as someone you will meet again — it is often true.
Themes
Similar proverbs
- 146 渡る世間に鬼はない Across the wide world, there are no demons.
- 053 旅は道連れ世は情け On a journey, a companion; in life, kindness.
- 291 花の色は移りにけりないたづらに我が身世にふるながめせしまに The color of the flowers has faded, while I watched the long rains fall — and my life go by.
- 028 出る杭は打たれる The stake that sticks out gets hammered down.
- 034 笑う門には福来る Fortune comes to homes that laugh.